“What do you mean, nothing?” I screeched. “I heard the hiss. Ryker and the Hunters?—”
“Trust me. The cubs and their mamas are safe,” she assured, looking into my eyes with absolute certainty. “Now, let’s have some breakfast. I’m starving.”
Taking my hand, she guided me away from there while doors slammed closed one after the other as our breeders hid, protecting their cubs from the ultimate predator. Isis, however, strolled along the houses with me beside her while whistling a happy tune like everything was fine. Apparently, her only concern was whether or not there would still be bacon in the communal dining room.
No threats, or danger.
No Vampires.
Not a single one.
We were safe.
Isis had been right. The hunters found nothing on their search of the mountain, but then, where had that vicious hiss come from?
With Ryker’s reassurance, the entire village calmed down, breeders and cubs coming out of their houses for their daily chores or playing. Trusting his Beta blindly, our Alpha ordered the preparations for theFire Ceremonyto continue, but this strange feeling had gotten inside of me, and I just couldn’t let it go.
There was still a threat. Therewasdanger. We were not safe.
Something was out there… I could feel it in my bones.
“Will you stop being so paranoid?” Isis called from behind me, trying to shift my attention from the trees that bordered our village back to her. “I told you everything is fine.”
My teeth nervously bit into my bottom lip with each swipe of my gaze through the forest and bushes. I’d kept a vigilant eye on it since this morning, just waiting for something weird to spring out and attack. Sure, I’d never been in front of a Vampire, but I could almost see them in my mind’s eye thanks to all of our Alpha’s and Ryker’s accounts of their hunting trips.
Those monsters were seven feet tall, hunched over from the humps protruding along their spine, with long arms that bent awkwardly and claws as long as a Wolf Shifter’s. Their sharp fangs sliced through the skin with ease, even their own, which caused them to drool blood sometimes, and in turn, it enticed their hunger. They had eyes permanently glazed over with a weird white film that Ryker believed was what helped them see at night, while their skin held a decaying, grey hue—a result of them being stuck between the living and the dead at the same time.
Worst of all, some of them had leathery wings, which made them more dangerous, and the very reason it took an entire hunter’s pack to attack and kill just a few of them. The second Vampires took to the sky, all bets were off.
“Earth calling Natasha…”
Finally dragging my eyes away from the bushes, I turned on the picnic table and gave my full attention to Isis. “Are you sure there’s nothing out there? I can’t escape this feeling… like we are being watched, surveyed.”
“Do you trust me?” Isis asked instead, and I rolled my eyes, making her smirk. “There is nothing dangerous out—” She paused, thinking better of it. “At least not for you. However, the bears, cougars, coyotes, bobcats, natural wolves, snakes, and spiders might not be too welcoming to humans up here.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”
“Why, thank you.” She winked at me, her gaze briefly traveling past me to the forest before she downed another forkful of pie.
We loved it when it was Frederica’s turn to make dessert in the communal kitchen. Her pies were the most decadent things we’d ever tasted—it was her absolute weakness. But who could blame her?
“There is something else bothering you, though,” she guessed, knowing me too well.
The news Ryker shared echoed in my mind, and I straightened on the bench, suddenly way too interested in the rusted nail pocking through the greyed-out, warped wood. Lunch had come and gone, and I still hadn’t found a way to tell her about it.
“What is it?”
Sighing, I glanced up at her, thinking it was best to just rip the banbraid. “Ryker told me we are mating tonight.”
The fork flew from Isis’ hand as she lunged to her feet in both shock and ire, the bench flipping to the ground behind her. “The hell you are!”
Her shout caused all heads to snap toward us, but they turned away the second her glare fell on them.
“Calm down,” I whisper-hissed, calling her attention to me.
“You can’t mate tonight,” she argued. “You haven’t completed the fire trial, your wolf isn’t even out yet, and?—”
“He asked our Alpha for permission so we could mate as man and woman first, then as wolves tomorrow, and his request was granted.”
